


Waiting and Hoping

by Joe_Reaves



Series: Making It Real [3]
Category: Empire Records (1995), Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Crossover, Introspection, M/M, moresome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-04-14
Updated: 2010-04-14
Packaged: 2017-10-08 22:56:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/80352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Joe_Reaves/pseuds/Joe_Reaves
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Joe makes Warren an offer.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Waiting and Hoping

Joe parked outside the restaurant and strolled through the door. He waved the hostess off with a smile. "I'm meeting someone, thanks, and he's already here."

Sliding into the corner booth, he grinned at Elliot. "You are so predictable. Always early, always choose the corner booth, always sit with your back to the wall." He shook his head fondly. "You're such a cop. What on earth do you expect to happen all this way from where you work? And in a restaurant at that?"

Elliot smiled and shrugged. "You never know and I'd rather see trouble coming, thank you. That's not a cop thing; it's a Marine thing."

Joe smiled slowly. "I love a man in uniform, but since you're a detective now and too important for a uniform, I'll settle for a man with handcuffs."

Laughing, Elliot leaned over and kissed him. One of the things he enjoyed about being here in Fieldsboro was that he could do this without worrying about another cop seeing him. He pulled back, smiling at the slightly dazed look on Joe's face. He loved the way Joe would put everything into a kiss; he was like that with everything he did. Nothing held back.

There was a commotion over by the entrance and Elliot automatically checked it out. Warren was running out of the restaurant like he was being chased. Elliot pointed him out to Joe and watched as the other man groaned.

"He must have seen us," Joe said. "Do you think he's freaking out because I'm with a man?"

"I think he's upset that you're involved with me," Elliot said dryly. "He all but offered me his phone number and he's had a crush on you for years. Maybe more than a crush if you ask Lucas."

"What?" Joe asked, confused.

Elliot sighed and leaned back. "When it comes to relationships, especially anything involving you, you're really totally blind, aren't you?" he waved off Joe's automatic complaint. "I spoke to Lucas after my last visit. Warren was all over me in the store. I thought it was cute. But according to Lucas you're the one he really wants. I think he gave up on you and decided to try and ask me out, so he followed you here hoping you were meeting me and then got the shock of his life when I kissed you. Poor kid."

"What?" Joe said again.

Elliot smiled a little. "You're adorably clueless sometimes." He turned serious. "That young man likes you very much and he's attracted to me and without meaning to we just hurt him. What are we, and especially you, going to do about it?"

Joe blinked at Elliot speechlessly before finally finding his voice. "What do you mean, what am I going to do about it? In case you hadn't noticed, I'm already in a relationship. I'll talk to him but Warren is going to have to get over it."

Elliot signalled the waitress. "Can you change our order to go, please? Something came up."

She smiled and nodded. "Of course, hon, you want anything else with it? Dessert? Drinks?"

"We're good, but thank you," he said with a smile, making the girl blush a little.

Joe shook his head. "I can't take you anywhere without you gathering a following. I assume you ordered for me since I haven't had a chance yet. Where are we going?"

"You're predictable," Elliot said. "I ordered your usual and we're going back to your place so we'll be there when Warren gets home and you can think about what you really want to do. I hear how you talk about him. Lucas is your little brother but you don't talk about Warren like that."

"Elliot!" Joe warned. "I'm with you; what are you suggesting I do? Gather the kid up and tie him to our bed?"

"It's a thought," Elliot said. He took the food and the check from the waitress, dropping enough bills to cover it and the tip onto the table. "I'd start by talking to him, though. Make sure he understands what he's getting into." He waited until they were outside and away from eavesdroppers before continuing. "No reason a relationship only has to have two people in it, Joe."

Elliot grabbed Joe's keys, put the food in the back, slid into the driver's seat and had the engine running before Joe moved from where he'd frozen at Elliot's words. "Are you getting in or am I driving your car home and letting you walk?" Elliot asked with a smirk.

Joe glared and climbed in. "Why are you driving my car?"

"Because you seemed a little zoned and I don't want to listen to you complain when you drive it into a street light or something." Elliot reached over and touched his leg briefly. "I meant it though. We're strong enough that we could expand our relationship if you wanted to. I can see why you react the way you do to him. He's a smart mouthed little thing but I just want to wrap him up and keep him safe, and I only met him for five minutes. You live with him."

Joe leaned back and closed his eyes, thinking about Elliot's idea. "He'd have to be sure he knew what he was getting into. A three-way relationship would be complicated and I don't want him hurt because we rushed this."

"He's already hurting, Joe," Elliot said. "Talk to him over breakfast. Make sure he understands the negatives as well as the positives. Don't let him decide on the spot. We should give him at least a week before we'll accept an answer from him."

When Warren finally pulled into the drive, the two men were waiting. They heard him creep into the house from the garage and Joe called out to him.

"Warren!" He didn't really expect Warren to want to talk right now, not if Elliot was right about his feelings. The poor kid must be really upset right now, but Joe wanted to try and make him feel at least a little better.

"Joe, I'm going to grab a shower and go to bed. I got caught in the rain. I'll talk to you tomorrow," Warren called back, sounding a little scared and very miserable.

Almost without conscious thought, Elliot crossed the room to where he could see him. He had to resist the urge to wrap his arms around Warren and then carry him into the bathroom where they would share a hot bath before Joe wrapped the kid in a towel and tucked him into bed. Their bed.

"Well, if it isn't Elliot Ness. I gotta go, I'm dripping on the carpet here." He forced a smile onto his face but it was a shadow of his normal cocky smirk. Elliot tried to smile reassuringly. They needed to look after Warren; he was such a sweetheart under that smart mouthed, irritating act that he put on. Warren scurried into the bathroom and locked the door behind him before Elliot could think of anything to say.

Joe joined Elliot in the doorway and kissed him softly. "Much as I want to wrap him up and keep him safe, we have to give him some time before talking to him." He fetched some warm, clean towels and knocked on the bathroom door. "Warren, I have some clean towels for you," he said. "I'll leave them outside and you can grab them when you're done. Get some sleep, kid; I'll talk to you tomorrow. I'm making breakfast." He rested his hand briefly against the door and the turned back to Elliot. "Come on, we should have an early night. Warren doesn't need to see us when he gets out of the shower and you have a long trip back to the City in the morning.

Warren knew better than to try and avoid breakfast. When Joe wanted to talk, he'd find a way and avoiding him only made him mad. He was relieved that Elliot wasn't there when he walked into the kitchen; he didn't think he could sit through an entire meal with the two of them. Since Joe was making waffles, he helped himself to a mug of coffee and slouched over to his chair.

"You wanted to talk?" he asked, sulkily.

Joe reached over and grabbed the coffee, taking a mouthful before putting it on the counter next to him and out of Warren's reach. "You're not allowed coffee; it makes you hyper." He served the waffles and put a plateful in front of Warren, who immediately covered them in syrup and started eating – having a bad day was no reason not to eat as far as he was concerned. Joe smiled. "You and your hollow leg," he said fondly. "Yes, I wanted to talk to you. I know you were at the restaurant last night and I'm going to skip over the whole issue of you following me."

Warren groaned. "Look, I'm sorry, OK. I didn't know you were seeing Elliot. I do now. I'm pleased for you, it's all good, so just let me eat my breakfast and get to the store before the boss complains I'm late."

Joe glared. "Right, as I was saying, before you interrupted me. I'm going to ignore the fact you followed me. I'm worried about how upset you were. Elliot and I talked last night and we want to try something to fix this."

"You can't fix it, Joe," Warren snapped. "Just leave me alone. I'll get over it."

"Will you stop interrupting me?" Joe yelled at him. "Damnit, Warren, sometimes I just want to shake you until your teeth rattle. I hope Elliot knows what he's getting himself into."

"I ... what?" Warren said, confused. Joe's yelling just bounced off him; he was too used to it to get upset. "What do you mean what Elliot's getting into? He's with you."

Joe sighed and sat next to Warren. "Yes, he is. We've been together for a couple of years now, ever since his marriage broke up. We talked and we want to suggest something, but you have to promise to think about it and not just jump in and say either yes or no."

Warren nodded. "All right, what do you want?" He wasn't hoping for anything; after all Joe and Elliot were together and he didn't want them to split up, so what was left for him?

Reaching out, Joe took his hand. "We'd like you to think about joining us, becoming part of a threesome. I'm not going to pretend it would be easy; all the little things that make a normal relationship hard work increase with three of you. We'd have to trust one another, learn not to be jealous of the other's interactions, not try and keep count of who did what with whom. And other people might not understand. We want you to promise to think about it for at least a week."

Warren tuned out most of what Joe was saying to him, stuck on the first sentence. "You want me? But why?" He shifted in his seat and sat up straighter. "I mean, sure I'm great and anyone would want me, but you already have each other? Why me?" He looked suspicious. "Things getting a little boring are they? Need something different to spice things up for a little while?"

"Warren!" Joe growled. "I know you don't know Elliot well yet, but do you really think I'd do that? Just use you like some kind of toy to encourage our sex life?"

He looked down and started picking at the tablecloth. "No," he said sulkily. "You're too much of a bleeding heart to do that. You like picking up strays and stuff..." He looked up suspiciously. "So is that it? I'm your next project."

Joe sighed and rolled his eyes. "You've been one of my projects for four years, Warren, but I'm not going to sleep with you out of pity or because I want to rescue you. Look, whether you understand it or not we both like you and we think we could work as a threesome. Now, finish your breakfast and think about if you could deal with it and if it's something you want. We'll ask you for your answer after I close on Saturday."

Warren poked at his waffles. "You're serious about this? I wouldn't be just a fling and then you decide it's a bad plan? Because I can be a pain in the ass sometimes; I guess you'd know that though."

Joe smiled fondly. "Yes I'd figured that out by now, Warren. I figured it out when you came into the store with a gun. I know you, Warren, you've lived here for two years. There are plenty of reasons why this might not be right for you, but me waking up one day and suddenly discovering you're trouble? That's not going to happen."

"You want me to wait till Saturday to decide? Can I talk to you about it before then?" Warren asked.

Joe relaxed and smiled more easily. "You can always talk to me about anything, Warren. You can talk to Elliot too if you want. I'll give you his number. We want to make sure you go into this with your eyes open."

Warren nodded thoughtfully. "OK then. I promise, I'll think about it and not just say yes." He smiled happily. "You know these waffles are really good. Can I have some more?"

Joe laughed and reached over to ruffle his hair in the way Warren always hated, or at least pretended he did. "Sure thing, squirt. You know how to make them. I'll see you lunchtime when your shift starts."

Warren mumbled something insulting as Joe left, but he pretended not to hear it. Warren just shrugged and kept on eating his waffles, turning Joe's suggestion over in his mind. The rest of the gang might not believe it but he was perfectly capable of thinking about things seriously when he wanted to. He just didn't want to most of the time.

His instinctive reaction to the offer would be to jump at it. He'd had a crush on Joe pretty much since he met him, certainly since the first time he saw him playing the drums, and it had gradually grown into something more than that as Joe stayed around and didn't get fed up with him and toss him out like most people had. He'd always been convinced that Joe wasn't interested in men in general and him in particular so he'd tried to get past it. And then there was Elliot. He was just wow. Tall, not overly muscled but clearly fit and strong, and with an aura of masculinity and authority. Warren grinned – he could admit it to himself if not to anyone else, he had a kink for men in authority. Lucas was going to laugh his ass off if he did get together with both Joe and Elliot; he already teased Warren about his thing for the guy on NCIS.

Absently he scraped his plate off and then put it in the sink with the rest of the breakfast stuff, filling it up as he continued to think about the idea. So the pros of such an arrangement were obvious, especially to his libido, but what were the cons?

Well, for a start, he'd have to share. He would have to expect that sometimes Joe and Elliot would want or need to concentrate on each other and not him. He didn't think they'd deliberately ignore him though, so he could probably deal with that. After all there would no doubt be times when one of them was focussing on him and the other was feeling left out and it might be worse for them since they were used to it being just the two of them. He didn't think he was really the jealous type so he thought he'd be all right with the idea but he had no idea how he could be sure about that. Did Joe need him to be sure before he said yes? He ran a soapy hand through his hair. He'd have to talk to Joe about it later.

So what else? Other people. He shrugged. He never cared what other people thought but he could be discreet if Joe and Elliot did. He thought Elliot probably would since he was a cop. That would maybe mean they couldn't do anything in public and that was a shame, but if it came to not being able to do anything in public and not being able to do anything at all it wasn't a difficult choice. He'd prefer to be able to be open with them whenever he wanted, but there was nothing they could do about that and it wasn't enough to give up the chance of being with them at all.

He sighed. Great, he'd thought it over and decided to say yes and it was only 9:15, Monday morning. He had to wait till midnight on Saturday before he could do anything about it. This sucked. He grinned to himself. If he was going to have to suffer until Saturday, there was no reason he should suffer alone. He grabbed the phone and dialled the store.

"Yeah, hi Mark. Can you put me through to Joe?"


End file.
